Speaking during an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Service earlier today, Senator Kawu blew the lid on an otherwise closely guarded secret about the exact amount senators take home every month.
According to him, although his monthly salary is about N1m, his total take-home is N21m, a wide margin from figures quoted by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
Kawu said, “The amount of salary I receive per month is less than N1m, if there are cuts, it comes back to about six hundred thousand naira and a little something as salary.”
He noted that there are usually a few deductions by the RMFAC.
The latest debate about the actual take-home pay of federal lawmakers was inadvertently instigated by former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Chief Obasanjo had, while receiving in audience six members of the House of Representatives, led by Ikenga UgoChinyere, who visited him, chided the federal lawmakers for fixing their salaries and emoluments.
During the parley, Obasanjo said, “In your case, with all due respect, you’re not supposed to fix your salaries. But you decide what you pay yourselves, the allowances that you give yourselves (including) newspaper allowances.
“You give yourselves all sorts of things, and you know it is not right. It is immoral, (yet) you are doing it, the Senate is doing it, and you are beating your chests about it. In some cases, the executive gives you what you’re not entitled to. You all got N200 million (each)”, the former President said Friday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
Also, a former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, had once publicly disclosed that each senator collects a monthly running cost of N13.5m in addition to the monthly N750,000 prescribed by the Commission.
However, RMAFC had, while reacting to Obasanjo’s allegation, said, “Each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber receives a total of N1,063,860 in salary and allowances per month.”
RMAFC Chairman Mohammed Shehu said this as a form of clarification in response to recent controversies over the real amount each lawmaker earns per month.
Based on Shehu’s disclosure, it would mean each lawmaker earns N12.72 million in 12 months and the Federal Government makes a total expenditure of N1.4 billion annually for all senators.
A breakdown of their monthly earnings showed that each senator collects a monthly salary and allowances of N1,063,860, consisting of a basic salary, N168,866:70; motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance, N126,650:00; and personal assistant, N42,216:66.
Others include domestic staff,126,650:00; entertainment, N50,660:00; utilities, N50,660:00; newspapers/periodicals, N25,330:00; wardrobe, N42,216,66:00; house maintenance, N8,443.33:00; and constituency allowance, N422,166:66.
Shehu, in the statement, noted, “The Commission also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any allegation regarding other allowance(s) being enjoyed by any political, public office holder outside those provided in the Remuneration (Amendment) Act, 2008 should be explained by the person who made the allegation.
“To avoid misinformation and misrepresentation of facts capable of misleading citizens and members of the international community, the Commission considers it most appropriate and necessary to request Nigerians and any other interested party to avail themselves of the opportunity to access the actual details of the present remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders in Nigeria published on its website: www.rmafc.gov.ng.”
It would be recalled that the Senate, in a statement on Sunday, refuted the claims by Chief Obasanjo, stating that they were lies.
